TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1998//
TI  - Common patterns of service use in children's mental health
JO  - Evaluation and program planning
A1  - Warren Lambert, E.
A1  - Brannan, Ana María
A1  - Breda, Carolyn S.
A1  - Heflinger, Craig Anne
A1  - Bickman, Leonard
SP  - 47
EP  - 57
VL  - 21
IS  - 1
N2  - Evaluators and program administrators need simple multivariate descriptions of mental health service utilization. This study demonstrates the utility of cluster analytic patterns of care in a sample of 979 children receiving formal mental health services. Six patterns were identified: (a) brief outpatient; (b) extended outpatient; (c) hospital with outpatient; (d) non-residential more-than-outpatient; (e) extended residential; and (f) atypical heavy-service outliers. Children in high-cost clusters had above-average clinical severity. Children in a continuum of care used three patterns (b, d and e) more often, while those served through a traditional fee-for-service system used two clusters (a and c) more often. Service utilization clusters provide a useful and easily-understood vocabulary for summarizing children's quantity of use of various mental health services.<p /> 
LA  - 
SN  - 0149-7189
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0149-7189(97)00044-X
ID  - ref1
ER  -